Explosive Rape Claims Rock Married At First Sight

The timing was less than optimal. This week, ’s annual report publicly hailed their most-streamed show; a series, which insiders tell me, has always been viewed internally as a fine example of ‘progressive’ programming – not to mention being seen as the broadcaster’s golden goose.

There’s one problem however.

Just two days before the release of that report, Married At First Sight (MAFS) had been the subject of a Panorama documentary in which two female contestants claimed they’d been raped by their co-star ‘husbands’. One said she informed both Channel 4 and the production company of the alleged assault only for the episodes to be aired anyway.

The other described being left with bruises and said her partner also threatened to have acid thrown at her.

Both say the programme’s welfare protocols were not up to standard.

That the channel was still praising the show after the allegations became public reveals not only the chaos at its London HQ but a reluctance of bosses to acknowledge that their golden goose is now irredeemably tarnished.

After all, Channel 4’s new chief executive Priya Dogra has insisted the show will go on, despite the allegations. She confirmed that the forthcoming series will continue to be made – although it won’t be aired until after an external review is complete.

Some Channel 4 employees tell me her decision to continue making MAFS has ‘caused a huge divide’ at the network. Some believe the programme should be axed with immediate effect. First aired in 2015, the show follows strangers starting a marriage-like relationship with each other, meeting only minutes before they take ‘vows’ which, while not legally binding, require participants to go on honeymoon and be together as husband and wife in every sense of the word.

However, not everyone at Channel 4 is certain the show should be axed. Indeed, others, I’m told, have questions galore about the Panorama documentary.

They are not convinced by some of the explosive claims made. This, I can reveal, is a view shared by other contestants who appeared on the same series as one of the women at the centre of the scandal. Just one contestant is said to be backing her version of events. The others, I’m told, have doubts.

Many question why she didn’t call the police if she had been raped. Others insist she had agreed to sleep with her new ‘husband’. Surprisingly, others say it was he who halted their intimacy halfway through – something they say the woman told them herself.

‘The woman agreed to sleep with the groom,’ says my source. ‘But it was him who stopped it, he found it all very weird and he freaked out.’

If this version of events is accurate, one can’t help but wonder why a woman who didn’t want to have a full sexual encounter would volunteer for a dating show where the expectation was that you would have to have sex with a man you’d just met.

One contestant who was on at the same time, said: ‘The overall view was that the woman was weird. She didn’t get on with anyone and didn’t really want to have sex. Everyone thought it was weird given she was on a dating show.

‘This really does beg the question of why she went in there.’ It’s fair to say that her co-stars are ‘cross’ at her allegations. They say they are further inflamed by the fact she contacted her fellow brides and grooms before the Panorama documentary was screened to ask them to back her up. Only one came forward, a man with whom she was friendly on the show.

The contestant added: ‘There are some very strong feelings amongst the brides and grooms who appeared alongside her. It isn’t what they saw. Many are happy to speak to those conducting the review about it.’ Indeed, on Tuesday Channel 4 confirmed it had launched an investigation into the woman’s claims. An external review, they said, would be conducted by law firm Clyde & Co, who are examining the welfare protocols at the time claims were raised, as well as the handling by Channel 4 and the production company CPL of the claims.